Why we want a vote

Following the Irish referendum, Shirley Williams says she takes "the democratic deficit seriously" (Comment, June 18). But her solution is more "education in citizenship" to teach us about "the success" of the EU. How patronising; particularly from a leader of a party which would have denied us our own referendum on Lisbon. The reason I, and many like me, would have voted no, had we been given the chance, is not that we lack education. What we oppose is the arrogant, federalist project summed up in the official EU phrase "towards an ever-closer union". We dislike this steady erosion of national sovereignty, just as we abhor the ever-expanding scope of undemocratic, bureaucratic EU regulations. And we would like a chance to express our views, and to have them count.John TorodeLondon